Elissa Sursara

Naturalist, environmentalist, explorer

Elissa Sursara is an Australian naturalist, environmentalist, explorer and science and environment writer. She has worked from Antarctica to Asia and has written about the environment for several publications including National Geographic and the Environmental Investigation Agency. Elissa is the ambassador to the global climate change campaign Earth Hour, charity company Thankyou, Patagonia's 1% for the Planet and Steve and Terri Irwin's Wildlife Warriors and the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital.

Elissa is pursuing a Master of Biology and is particularly interested in zoology and bioethics. She has a background in direct-action conservation and is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ).

Elissa has appeared on Animal Planet's Whale Wars, AOL, Totally Wild and more, and has been featured Girlfriend, Crikey and Cleo. Elissa's professional nominations include MTV (Millennial Leader), Intel (Blogger of the Year), PETA (Vegetarian Celebrity) and Cleo Magazine (30 under 30 - awarded).

Elissa has a keen interest in Arctic and Antarctic science and spent three summers working in coastal east Antarctica. She writes about conservation biology and keystone species and habitats.

Palm oil monoculture is palming off orangutans in record numbers. Today, less than 70,000 orangutans exist in small wild pockets in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Populations are patchy and lack diversity, with conversion of land for palm oil plantation believed to be the species' biggest threat.

When recreational big-game hunter Walter Palmer shot and killed Cecil the lion, the backlash was relentless. What remains is the Orwellian idea of killing animals to save them. After hunting animals to the brink of extinction, can we really hunt them back?